Adopt the Resolution.

BACKGROUND

The City of Miami Beach is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-designated entitlement community, as determined by the decennial census information on population growth lag, age of housing stock and poverty.  The City has been a CDBG entitlement community since 1975.  The HOME Program was started in 1992 to provide funding specifically for affordable housing.  HUD allocates these funds to strengthen public/private partnerships and expand the supply of affordable housing that is decent, safe and sanitary.

As an entitlement community, the City qualifies for an annual allocation under HUD’s grant programs.  HUD requires each entitlement community to submit an annual One-Year Action Plan describing how it will utilize funding and resources to address priority needs identified in the City’s Consolidated Plan.  The One-Year Action Plan is a component of the Five-Year Consolidated Plan filed with HUD.  The City’s current One-Year Action Plan follows the strategies included in its 2013-2017 Five-Year Consolidated Plan. CDBG funds have been primarily used to provide vital public services, housing activities and improvements to public facilities while HOME funds have been primarily used for affordable rental housing activities. 

While we will not know the exact amount of our allocation until later in the year, the estimated FY 2017/2018 funds are:

Community Development Block Grant Funds

FY17/18 HUD Entitlement                                                                                          $792,963        

Less administrative allowance (20%)                                                                        ($158,592)

Net FY 17/18 funds available for distribution                                                        $634,371

HOME Funds

FY 17/18 HUD Entitlement                                                                                         $421,930

Less administrative allowance (10%)                                                                          ($42,193)

Less 15% CHDO project set-aside                                                                             ($63,289)

Net available for project allocation                                                                        $316,448

Following the Citizen Participation Plan, Staff held a public meeting to discuss the Community Needs Assessment along with the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) on April 25, 2017. Recommendations and comments were gathered for the preparation of the Action Plan.

Due to the uncertainty regarding FY 17/18 entitlement funds because of outstanding issues with HUD, the Administration obtained authorization from the City Commission, via Resolution No. 2017-29803, to amend the FY 2013 - 2017 Consolidated Plan. The amendment introduced other HUD-approved methods to select sub-recipients in addition to the Request for Proposals model used in previous years. This amendment allowed greater flexibility in terms of timely compliance with the creation of the Action Plan without creating false expectations for the potential applicants.

An analysis of the current condition of the City-owned residential rental buildings and the risk for structural damage if renovations and repairs are left undone, make the rehabilitation of these properties a priority for capital projects funding. Staff evaluated other HUD-approved methods for the allocation of funds for public services and proposed the selection from a pool of qualified organizations previously funded by the City to provide services according to the needs assessment identified in the FY 2013 -2017 Consolidated Plan.

Staff forwarded these recommendations to the AHAC and held a public meeting on May 16, 2017. AHAC recommended that the Mayor and Commission support the FY 17/18 Action Plan at the funding levels proposed below . 

As required by HUD, the Action Plan was made available to the public for a 30-day comment period commencing on May 5, 2017 and ending June 5, 2017

During the time period of the current FY 2013-2017 Consolidated Plan, the City has funded the following 13 public service providers:   

• Boys and Girls Club of Miami-Dade

• Empowering Youth

• Food for Life Network

• Get Credit Healthy

• City of Miami Beach - Homeless Outreach Team

• City of Miami Beach - Office of Community Services

• Jewish Community Services of South Florida (JCS)

• Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Centers of Dade County, Inc. (LHANC)

• Log Cabin

• Miami Beach Community Development Corporation

• Rain Parents

• Teen Job Corps, Inc.

• UNIDAD Of Miami Beach, Inc.

The top performing sub-recipients have been:

• Boys and Girls Club (providing youth with aftercare and summer programming);

• City of Miami Beach - Homeless Outreach Team (servicing homeless individuals);

• City of Miami Beach - Office of Community Services (servicing those with emergency needs in our community including rent, utilities and food);

• Food for Life Network (delivering meals to HIV/AIDS individuals);

• JCS (servicing the homeless and elderly population);

• LHANC (providing childcare services);

• Teen Job Corps (providing youth with job training); and

• UNIDAD - Senior Center (providing referrals to the elderly).

Food for Life Network and JCS rejected previous award of CDBG funds in FY 16/17 and 15/16, respectively. They determined that the Federal reporting requirements were too onerous for their agencies.

Staff evaluated past sub-recipients prioritizing the following critical factors:

• Previous adherence to minimum proposal requirements;

• Population to be served as it relates to the City’s Consolidated Plan;

• Demonstrated need within the community;

• Redundancy of services with existing community resources;

• Sub-recipients’ previous performance and program outcomes;

• Sub-recipients’ organizational capacity and experience, including prior performance with federal awards;

• Projected amount of beneficiaries as related to proposed budget amount; and

• Organization’s ability to leverage additional non-City sources of funding for project activities. 

This information was utilized to rank and make appropriate funding recommendations, which form the basis of the Action Plan. The recommendations are consistent with the priority needs identified by the Commission, the community and the Consolidated Plan. The priorities include services to youth, childcare services, and support to the elderly and were selected to maximize the amount of beneficiaries per grant dollar.

A maximum of 15 percent of the entitlement allocation may fund public service activities. Public service activities include meals programs, rent assistance, child care programs, etc., for income-eligible participants. The following five (5) public service activities are recommended for funding:

The City continues to have pressing capital needs for its own recently-acquired affordable residential properties. The Madeleine Village Apartments, a 16-unit, multi-building development located at 7861-7871 Crespi Boulevard, and the Neptune Apartments, a 35-unit residential building, located at 1632 Meridian Avenue, were acquired in January 2015. They require substantial rehabilitation including, but not limited to: termite treatment; roof repair/replacement; and kitchen and bathroom renovations. These renovations would require the temporary relocation of the buildings’ tenants. The temporary relocation costs will be charged to the programs.

The Madeleine Village Apartments was previously awarded $65,029 of recaptured FY 15/16 CDBG funds. However, this amount is insufficient as the total estimated project cost is far greater. The CDBG and HOME funds requested for this project will decrease the funding gap and allow the City to commence with the project.

In addition, the Administration will contract Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Inc. (HOPE, Inc.) for the provision of HUD-mandated fair housing services. HOPE, Inc. would continue providing housing education workshops to residents and participate in outreach events citywide. Administration funds will fund this mandated service. Although not currently funded by the City, HOPE also investigates the allegations of Fair Housing Act violations on behalf of residents believed to have been victims of discrimination.

Staff recommends the use of HOME funds to provide gap funding for the Madeleine Village Apartments rehabilitation so that the project can commence during FY 17/18.

The HOME Program rules require each entitlement community reserve a minimum of 15% of its annual allocation for activities undertaken by qualified Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO).  A CHDO is a private nonprofit, community-based service organization that has identified the development of affordable housing as its primary mission and has the capacity to develop affordable housing. A CHDO must meet certain requirements pertaining to its legal status, organizational structure, capacity and experience.  Carrfour Supportive Housing (Carrfour), has been certified as a CHDO and is the only such agency with this designation within the City at this time.  However, Carrfour does not have another project within the City limits that could receive these funds. Therefore, the Administration is recommending the deferral of the CHDO set aside, approximately $63,289, for future award. The City is allowed two years to commit and five years to expend these funds.